Trinity Inlet declared Fish Habitat Area

Location and plan number

Size and management level

Total size: 7,164 ha:

  • 5,989 ha – Management A
  • 1,175 ha – Management B.

Declaration history

  • 23 September 1989: Original declaration of Admiralty Island and Trinity Inlet Reserves.
  • 23 July 1998: Redeclaration:
    • to cadastral boundaries
    • Admiralty and Trinity Fish Habitat Areas merged as Trinity Inlet Fish Habitat Area.
  • 21 September 2001: Redeclaration:
    • to remove land included in error.
  • 19 December 2003: Redeclaration:
    • to address management issues.
  • 7 December 2018: Redeclaration:
    • to amend the exclusion zone around the navigation channel
    • remove terrestrial lands from within the outer boundary.

Management features

  • Conservation of fisheries values near the major development centre of Cairns.
  • Buffer zone from rural or urban development.
  • Long history of fisheries and fish habitat research and monitoring in the area.

Habitat values

  • Extensive mangrove forests (Rhizophora, Avicennia and Ceriops)
  • Seagrass beds off the esplanade
  • Patchy areas of saltmarsh
  • Intertidal flats.

Fisheries values

  • Commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing.
  • Intense recreational crab fishery.
  • Important nursery area for several species of fish and penaeid prawns.
  • Species:
    • Barramundi
    • Blue salmon
    • Bream
    • Estuary cod
    • Flathead
    • Garfish
    • Grey mackerel
    • Grunter
    • Mangrove jack
    • Queenfish
    • Whiting
    • Tiger prawns
    • Mud crabs.

Unique features

  • One of only 2 areas on the east coast of Queensland where Chenopod (succulent shrub) species Pachycomia tenuis has been reported.
  • Lies within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and the Trinity Bay net-free fishing zone.

Other values

  • None presently identified.

References

  • Lawrence M, Sully D, Beumer J and Couchman D 2009, Targeted collection of inventory data for wetlands fish barriers in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment, Final report to the Australian Government, Queensland Department of Primary Industries.